RETHINKING THE NON-JUSTICIABILITY OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND THE RIGHTS AND THE RIGHTS TO DIGNIFIED CONDITIONS OF LIVING IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study confronts the argument that economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCRs) lack the criteria for justiciability. In Nigeria, the popular judicial opinion is that Chapter 6(6)(c) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN, 1999) creates a bar to the enforcement of these rights. Consequent upon this is judicial inertia to ESCRs, and of course, a lack of accountability for breaches. These result in impunities and human rights enigma. My research questions the rationale behind the prioritizing of civil and political rights (CPRs) over ESCRs. What use is the right to life (RTL) in the absence of the necessary conditions of dignified living such as food, shelter, access to good health, environmental safety, and sanitation? Section 46 CFRN, 1999 legitimizes the enforcement of CPRs in Chapter IV, whereas Section 6(6)(c) delegitimizes Chapter II. Unfortunately, the Nigerian courts have largely pushed the boundaries, regardless of Nigeria’s treaty obligations. This research seeks a resolution in international law by reasserting the inextricable ties between ESCRs and the CPRs through an expansionist approach. Supported by international best practices, it reaffirms the justiciability of ESCRs separately and within the RTL. So, the study prescribes functional approaches to interpreting ESCRs to enhance accountability. Hence, maintaining a sustainable human right is untenable without treating the generations of human rights equally and ensuring that the survivors of human rights violations get justice. Therefore, this research seeks to reinforce judicial activism and sustain the ESCRs regime, where judicial precedents could viably provoke policy-making and human rights reforms as seen in India and South Africa.